Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 15

Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 1995 HOW TO REACH US Local news inquiries and tips: Maricarrol Kueter, city editor, 331-2327 or Rosemary McCoy and Cindy Uken, assistant city editors, 331-2301 or 1-800-530 NEWS STATE NEWS 2 3,4 BIRTHS 3 teftB wmh fee3 mm dm few JUST CURIOUS ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS mm tJ As Janklow works on budget, he's aware many want cuts to continue in Pierre NASA offers sppiications briel, GOP leader in the state House. "The feeling is the state has to set the example with efficiencies and economies that cut the size and cost of government," he said. Janklow, a Republican, is in the middle of his budget preparations. His spending proposal for the next fiscal year is to be given to legislators by Dec.

1. The governor won't talk publicly about specific parts of his next budget, but he has promised a streamlined state government. The entire executive branch has been under scrutiny since Janklow took office in January. "There'll be cuts," Janklow said. By TERRY WOSTER Argus Leader Staff PIERRE Local government has the tools it needs to cut costs, if state government sets the example with its next budget, a Republican legislative leader said.

Legislators endorsed bills last session that gave local governments more flexibility to run their own programs and that limited their ability to raise taxes. Now those lawmakers are anxious to see if Gov. Bill Janklow's next budget leads the way in cutting costs, Rep. Larry Gabriel of Cottonwood said. "That's the next step, we're waiting to see what state government does," said Ga "People demand that." Based on observations of veteran state workers who follow job postings, retirements and resignations, a reduction in staff of 300 to 500 or more in the total number of employees isn't unlikely by the end of the year.

That's what legislators and taxpayers are hoping for, Gabriel said, even though he acknowledges that the cuts will hit hard in Pierre and other towns with large numbers of state workers. "I know things are viewed a lot different there, where they have all the state workers and everyone knows each other," he said. "But out in the rest of the state, they're QUESTION: My two sons and I spent a ramy weekend after noon at the movies watching Apollo 13. Now, they want to be astronauts. Is there any where you might suggest I could get some information for them? I would really appreciate it.

Robert Thammen, Sioux Falls ANSWER: One of the best ways for your sons to learn about what is required to be an i astronaut, says a Space Administration spokeswoman, is to send for an application package; You may request that by writing, NASA, Johnson Space Center, Attn: AHX Astronaut Selection Office, Houston, Texas 77059. Have a general, news ques-. tion? Call the Argus Leader anytime at 331-2291 and leave a message. Or send your questions to Just Curious, Box 5034, Sioux Falls, S.D. 57117-5034.

'When I pick up my mail, we socialize. I cry on her shoulder sometimes. It isn't only a store and post office, it's having a Irma Mechling, Ihlen resident i i i i 11111111111 6NSU tPT jir-- Town relies on family for store, post office But couple just wants to help town of 113 adT clamoring for cuts. It's tough, but there's no getting around it." State government isn't on the spot by itself, Gabriel said. Because legislators passed Janklow's 20 percent property-tax reduction, his limit on local government growth to 3 percent of inflation and his revision of the school-aid formula, the local units of government must also perform efficiently, the House leader said.

"The ball is in their court, back where it should be, since they're the ones who can best control local costs," he said. The 20 percent property-tax cut and the cost-control measures passed last session seem to have Joyce and Bruce Rodman have operated the grocery store and post office out of their porch in their Ihlen, home since 1985. Linda SmithArgus Leader hall, which will have a senior citizens center. The Rodmans, who have lived 33 years in Ihlen, had a hand in that project too, collecting aluminum cans to buy equipment. Residents regularly deposit bags of cans outside their home.

grave opened up with reasonable prospects that we're not going to find anything anyway," Restovich said. "Margaret Dickey had no part of what the plaintiff is concerned about," added her lawyer, Harris Darling of Worthington. Though Restovich and Darling asked Connell to dismiss the case, the judge did not. He said the case will likely go to trial before it's decided. "There are a number of fact issues that would require a trial," Connell said.

Thomas said afterward that she is confident her questions about her daughter's whereabouts are valid. "I want to know where my baby is," she said. "It doesn't bother me what they say because I know what kind of person I am." til i i S'D' Men tsper Dell Rapids Garretson I MINN. Sioux A llFalls 1 Brandon j. II 4IJgT blunted a potential tax revolt, Gabriel said.

"It's a regional type of issue, really strong in some places but not so much elsewhere," he said. "Some legislators have told me they don't think it's the key issue since the 20 percent and the limited growth." Property taxes are far from a dead issue, though. Backers of a constitutional amendment that would prohibit use of property-tax money to pay for local schools are trying to get enough signatures to put their measure on the 1996 general-election ballot. They need more than 31,000 signers by Nov. 3.

Proposal calls for cuts in driver's education Keegan said changes need more studying By CORRINE OLSON Argus Leader Staff Sioux Falls high school students would get theory but no time behind the wheel in driver's education under a proposal for course changes forwarded to Superintendent Jack Keegan. High school principals and Al Kosters, coordinator of secondary education, are suggesting the class be changed to eliminate actual driving time. Their idea is that the driving part of the course could be picked up by community education outside the regular school day. Kosters stressed that the proposal is only a suggestion and the superintendent must decide if it will be presented to the board. Keegan said he has just begun to review the proposal and has many questions, including how much the program costs the district, if it would be legal to charge students for the driving portion of the class and what would be lost if the switch is made.

"We're a long way before this goes before the board," Keegan said. The problem with offering the driving portion of the class is the small teacher-student ratio necessary to offer it, Kosters said. While the teacher is driving with two students, the remainder are sent to a study hall until it is their turn to drive. "It's a question of economizing and building utilization. This is one thing the building principals felt we could look at," Kosters said.

The 45-hour class now includes 30 hours in classroom instruction, 10 hours in simulation and five hours of actual driving. The course uses two classrooms, one for the class and a second for the simulation. As overall, enrollment grows, Kosters said classroom space will be at a premium and the space might be needed. Steve Nord, a Washington High School teacher who has taught driver's education for 20 years, hopes the district can find a way to maintain the current program. "We feel the program is valuable.

It is the most immediately relevant course that students can take," he said. Nord said the driving portion must be maintained in some fashion if students are to receive the insurance credit for driver's education. This year 429 students are enrolled in the course for the first or second semester. While that number fills the course, it creates a teacher-student ratio about half of what it is for other courses. In tough economic times, Kosters said he isn't certain the district can afford that without some changes.

The district spends $139,839 on salaries and another $20,000 on expenses. During the regular school year the course is offered at no charge to students. If they take the course in the summer, they pay $150 tuition. 4k Mike Roemer Argus Leader office and a grocery store in their Ihlen, home. BRIEFLY 75 teens agree to abstain from sex Seventy-five teen-agers from South Dakota and North Dakota signed commitment cards to abstain from sex until marriage at a recent True Love Waits rally in Sioux Falls.

True Love Waits has held rallies around the world. More than 30,000 pledge cards have been collected in Brazil and more than 40,000 in South Af-' rica. Pledge cards collected in South Dakota will become part of an estimated 27-story stack reaching to the top of the Georgia Dome in February 1996. Leaders selected for Abbott campaign Kip Scott of Sioux Falls and Judy Olson of Rapid City have been named to co-chair the South Dakotans for Jim Abbott congressional committee. Abbott, a Yankton businessman, plans to seek the Democratic nomination for the seat U.S.

Rep. Tim Johnson expects to vacate. a Democrat, has said he will likely challenge U.S. Sen. Larry Pressler, Abbott's committee also includes Loila Hunking, Linda Barker, Marv Looby, Jim and Jean Beddow and Dennis and Linda Pierson of Sioux Falls.

Billion to lead Dole committee Sioux Falls businessman Dave Billion has been named advisory council chairman of U.S. Sen. Bob Dole's Republican presidential campaign. Gov. Bill Janklow, Dole's state chairman, also named Don Peterson of Yankton as East River co-chair, and Fred Whiting of Rapid City as West River co-chair for the campaign.

Good Samaritan gets funds for housing The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, based in Sioux Falls, will receive $2.04 million in a capital advance to build elderly housing. The advance is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Executive editor to take calls today Readers of the Argus Leader can offer feedback or ask questions about content during a live radio call-in program today on KSOO radio, AM-1140 Executive Editor Jack Marsh will accept calls from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

at 339-1140 or 1-800-392-1140. The program, titled "Ask the Argus," airs weekly in the new time slot which is effective today. LOTTERIES MINNESOTA DAILY THREE: 2-5-2. MINNESOTA GOPHER FIVE: 11-15-16-22-27. IOWA $100,000 CASH GAME: 7-14-20-22-31.

By RANDY HASCALL Argus Leader Staff DHLEN.Minn. Joyce and Bruce Rodman have an "Open" sign in the front window of their home. The sign refers to the post office and grocery store they operate in their enclosed porch, but applies to the entire house. Residents of this real-life Mayberry are welcome to enter through the kitchen door and walk through the Rodmans' living room into the store. "It's a busy place in the morning when the mail comes in," Joyce Rodman said.

The post office is 7 feet by 6 feet, the grocery store 7 by 18. They share an entry way. The door to the Rodmans' adjoining living room is always open and their kitchen serves as the town's unofficial coffee shop. "People come for coffee every morning. They come right through the living room they're supposed to," Joyce Rodman said as one man walked through the room into the store.

She's quick to point out that the coffee drinkers take turns buying cans of coffee there are no moochers in this town. Residents pay $2 a year to rent a post-office box 53 are rented out. The combinations have been taken off because residents can't remember them. Rodman, the town's postmaster, said the unique setup allows her to do housework while she runs the store and post office. Many customers take a seat on the couch and visit.

Resident Irma Mechling said the system works because the Rodmans are well-liked and respected in a town full of kind people. "When I pick up my mail, we socialize. I cry on her shoulder sometimes. It isn't only a store and post office, it's having a friend," Mechling said. "When I go on a trip, I give her my check book and she pays my bills.

I trust her; she's super." Trial Nicely By CARSON WALKER Argus Leader Staff WORTHINGTON, Minn. A Sioux Falls woman trying to learn whether her infant daughter is buried at a Worthington cemetery will likely have to wait for a trial. Marlys Thomas questions whether her daughter, Mary Agnes Gross, died the day she was born, June 12, 1962, or if she was taken from the hospital. She bases those questions on conflicting court and hospital records, as well as memories that raise suspicion. "If there is nothing buried there, that raises a second question: where is the baby that Marlys Thomas was told was buried there," her lawyer, Scott Heide-priem of Sioux Falls, told a Minnesota judge Tuesday.

Judge Timothy Connell ruled Joyce Rodman runs the post Rodman, 63, said the town's 113 residents deserve the credit. They're nice people and the 33 children never cause any trouble. She keeps nine jars of penny candy on the store shelf for the youngsters. In the past, children regularly used the Rodman bathroom as a public restroom. "I put the kibosh to that," Rodman said.

"They can use the one at the park. And how far are they from their homes, two blocks this way or that way?" The Rodmans, who have six grown daughters, stock various staples milk, bread and eggs as well as emergency items such as baking powder and toilet paper. Space is a premium, so they don't stock dog food, even though the town has 23 dogs. as woman that Heidepriem will have to obtain a permit from the Minnesota Health Department, in addition to the one he already received from a funeral director, and again ask St. Mary's Cemetery to dig Marlys Thomas where Thomas' daughter is supposed to be buried.

Heidepriem said getting the permit won't be a problem and taking the case to court will give 12 citizens the chance to hear Thomas' story. "Actually I'm really happy," he said. "We think it's perfectly OK that this woman has the right to find out about her baby." is go 33 he to Customers also can choose from the family's personal collection of movies, for rent at $1.75 each. The Rodmans have operated the grocery store and post office out of their porch since 1985. The town nearly lost its post off ice in 1977 during a U.S.

Postal Service reorganization, but residents spoke out. All but 15 residents said they preferred a post off ice to rural routes. "The only reason we're in here to help people," Joyce Rodman said. "It's pretty common for Bruce and Joyce to do that. They're a pretty nice couple," resident Don Westerbur said.

"It's real handy. We would miss it if it wasn't there." The town will soon have a second gathering spot. Work is progressing on a new community seeks to open grave The cemetery's lawyer, George Restovich of Rochester, argued that no one has the right to looking for a 30-year-old casket when there's little proof anything would be found. "We believe there's an excellent chance there's nothing there. Over years ago and a wooden casket," said.

"If they find anything it's going be rotten pieces of wood." Restovich also represents Ray Metz of Worthington, the cemetery's caretaker. Besides Metz and the cemetery, Margaret Dickey, the mother of another infant buried next to the Gross site does not want anyone digging next to her daughter's grave. Dickey of Worthington was present in court "She doesn't want her child's.